INUVIK
The East Three Secondary School track and field team has its eye on capturing its second straight team title.

Kyla Hvatum, left, Joe Thrasher, Emily Rutherford and coach Colin Pybus get set to help East Three Secondary School defend its overall team title at the NWT track and field championships in Hay River during the first week of June. Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

The territorial championships will take place during the first week of June in Hay River.

Team co-coach Colin Pybus said this year's team is going to be a bit smaller than usual, but filled with tough competitors as it chases the overall championship again.

"We're unofficially picking the team today," said Pybus on May 23, who is in his first year of coaching the team with veteran Kenzie MacDonald.

"It will have 16 members, including three chaperones, so we're sending 13 athletes down.

"We're taking a smaller team than what has typically been sent. We just couldn't take a team as big as what we did last year," he added, pointing to budget constraints. "Money is tight pretty much everywhere."

Students have been working out and seeking to impress the coaches to earn a spot on the team since the beginning of March, Pybus said. A peak number of about 25 students came out for the team but that number has declined since.

Training the students in that time frame is a challenge in Inuvik's weather.

"Of course the big challenge is just being able to get outside," Pybus said. "For the most part our outdoor practices didn't start until the middle or end of May, and even then having field space is difficult.

"These athletes are practising their jumps in the gym, which is very different from the environment at Hay River."

"Throwing events are even more difficult. We do have a small stock of indoor shot puts, discuses and javelins but realistically I don't see them translating all that well to being kind of comparable to outdoor events. We've been concentrating on footwork and technique and getting the body positioning down."

Practices and training began with general conditioning, and moved on to the specific sports from there.

"Since the beginning of April they've been working on their individual events," he said.

"The individuals we are sending are all very strong, very capable athletes. We still have a very good shot because the athletes we're bringing down are fantastic and we expect them all to do very well."

There are big expectations for a handful of athletes, including Emily Rutherford, Joe Thrasher, Kyla Hvatum and Karly King-Simpson.

Rutherford and King-Simpson are "fantastic" jumpers, Pybus said, while Thrasher and Hvatum excel in the throwing sports, particularly discus. All the students, though, are multi-sport athletes.

Rutherford said her best event is the triple jump, in which she has competed for a few years. She's also a talented runner.

Hvatum said 2013 was the only championship she's missed in her high school career.

"Of course, that's when they won the banner," she said.

Rutherford recalled her last performance in the triple jump.

"I learned how to do it a half-hour before my first competition and I still came in third," she said.

While the competition is also open to coaches, Pybus said he's not likely to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Dave Halpine, who took first place in his age division in 2013.

"I know competing was an option, but to be honest I wasn't counting on it, seeing as this was my first time down there. Coaches being able to compete is a new idea for me. Looking at my experiences as a coach, it's about being there for your athletes, to cheer them on and to problem solve. I wouldn't want to distract from that. I'm there for the kids and if there's time, maybe I'll get into an event or two."

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